1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to musical instruments and, in particular, to percussion instruments of the idiophone type. More particularly, the present invention relates to plastic and synthetic material idiophone type percussion instruments.
2. Description of Prior Art
Idiophone type percussion instruments are generally in the form of a block structure that produces sound when struck by a hard instrumentality such as a drum stick. The block includes a hollow chamber with an opening. When the block is struck, the chamber resonates to produce a musical tone.
A known block type percussion instrument is the Chinese wooden fish, which is a form of a slit drum carved from wood to resemble a mythical fish. The instrument is hollowed out through a ventral slit representing the creature's mouth and struck with a heavy stick. The wooden fish has subsequently been used, in various sizes and configurations in orchestras and has been referred to as a temple block.
Wooden blocks have a number of disadvantages. They are costly to produce. They vary in sound and pitch from one block to another due to variances in density, grain structure and other physical properties of the wood. They splinter and/or crack in the area where the block is usually hit. Wooden blocks have generally been mounted to a bracket or to a handle by a mounting construction that loosens during play of the instrument so as to cause the instrument to twist or rotate away from a desired playing position. Also, the mounting construction limits the instrument to a single physical orientation or playing position.
The disadvantages of wood and of twisting have been overcome with a prior art idiophone formed with plastic by conventional plastic molding processes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,061 describes an oblong plastic block having a generally rectangular block portion with an internal chamber. Three sided mounting recesses are formed in an external flange. A mounting bracket contains mounting elements shaped to mate with the landing area recesses so as to avoid twisting. However, the mounting scheme allows only a single playing position for the instrument.
Another block-type percussion instrument, known as a wooden agogo bell, comprises a pair of turned wooden circular chambers mounted on a common support, such as a bracket or a handle. Wooden agogo bells incorporate slots in the chamber walls to alter sound produced by the instrument. Different sizes of wooden agogo bells or blocks are frequently used in a single agogo instrument to produce different tones or pitches of musical sound. U.S. Pat. No. 976,718 describes a toy that employs typical circular chamber type agogo bells.